MANY ROADS

Losar shrine

MANY ROADS MAGAZINE

So here we are having arrived safely in 2014 according to the western calendar. Of course, there is still the Tibetan new year to look forward to on March 3, the transition from the year of the water snake to the year of wood horse.  For me, that is an exiting time when special dishes are made:  khapsi, ghutuk, mo mos; and of course the salt butter tea which is definitely an acquired taste but so warming in the winter months. Oh well, meanwhile it’s porridge oats for breakfast.

In this edition we have an interesting piece of writing by Nougaro Saint Sernin known to some of you as Jet:  Guess Who!

Then there is a piece I wrote earlier about my experience with learning the Nepali language:  Learning a Language.  I rememer trying to learn Hebrew when I was at school and I had such a difficult time because it never really became part of my experience, only an exercise in memorising words for things.  Learning Nepali gave me a valuable insight into how a language should be learned.

The film  Blue Poppy by Sitar Rose is a well-crafted documentary to follow on from her previous submission, Fulfilling the Vision, a wonderful account of the horticultural efforts in Tibet to save valuable, medicinal plants that have been overharvested.

Ernie Buck’s account of his journey by cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats, Ernie’s End to End,  is entertaining in that we are armchair travelers and do not have to make the arduous journey the length of Great Britain.  Ernie has circumnavigated the globe on his cycle but we’ll revisit that epic journey another time.

In the Poetry Section, Margaret Ford has submitted two highly intersting pieces that combine variations in font, colour and overlaid images. They don’t have titles but you can link to them on Poetry by Margaret Ford.  These are meditative poems on  love.

Lastly, Jaiya John’s Meditation:  In a House of Stone brings us back to our selves and the mindfulness that is within us all.

TEACHING FROM THE BODHIChARYAVARA BY RINGU TULKU RINPOCHE

Taking the Bodhisattva’s Vows

3^rd Chapter, Stanzas 23-24

BA3_23-24: Taking the Bodhisattva’s vows.

3^rd Chapter, Stanzas 23-24

September 14, 2011

Transcribed by Albert Harris

Teachings on the Bodhicharyavatara for the Online Shedra

So, now we come to stanza number 23 of the third chapter of Bodhicharyavatara: and this is the actual taking of the Bodhisattva vows.

Now here, generally, when Bodhisattvas take the aspiration or the vows, according to their motivation, their kind of strength of motivation, there are three-types of Bodhisattvas: somebody who’s called the king-like Bodhisattva; the captain-like Bodhisattva; and shepherd-like Bodhisattva.

The king-like Bodhisattva is those who would say that, ‘I would very much like to work for the benefit of all the sentient beings, would like to bring them all to the lasting peace and happiness.’ So therefore, first I would like to get there, I would first get enlightened and then, as an enlightened being, I would help all the beings to get that experience of enlightenment, lasting peace and happiness.

This is like the king who first wanted to look after himself, make everything enjoyable, good, powerful, everything perfect, and then he would also like to help his subjects to become better. This is called the king-like Bodhisattva.

The captain-like Bodhisattva is those who says that, ‘I would like to bring all the sentient beings to the enlightenment, to lasting peace and happiness, and I would bring them together with me, I would become enlightened along with them.’ So, this is like the captain who takes the ship across the ocean and if he gets across the ocean then the passengers of the ship also get across the ocean: and if doesn’t then nobody gets [across]. Therefore, it’s called the captain-like Bodhisattva whose aspiration is much stronger, much more compassionate that he wants to bring - or he or she wants to bring - every being together with him to the lasting peace and happiness.

Then there is the Bodhisattva called the shepherd-like Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva says that, ‘I would like to bring all the sentient beings without leaving anybody behind to the perfect enlightenment, to lasting peace and happiness. After I have done that, and after that only, I would like to become enlightened, I would not want to become enlightened unless and until I bring every being to the enlightenment.’ This is like those shepherds who first want to see that all his or her sheep are safe and fed and in the kind of a barn and then only he goes to kind of sleep or take his meals and rest.

So whichever kind of Bodhisattva you would like to be doesn’t matter: but when you take the Bodhisattva vows, usually it is said the best is to take it from a genuine teacher who has the Bodhisattva’s vows, who keeps the Bodhisattva’s vows and who is a kind of a genuine, trustworthy person, a teacher.

But it is not that you have to take the Bodhisattva’s vows only from a person who’s a teacher. It is possible to take the Bodhisattva’s vows also in front of images of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas; or even if there are no images or there are no representations of the Bodhisattvas you kind of think about all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in front of you existing in front of you and then from them you can take the Bodhisattva’s vows. It’s about yourself. So therefore, you can take the Bodhisattva’s vows yourself without any other person being there; also because it is you own aspiration, your own making the decision. There’s no difference, actually, not too much difference. The only thing is that you take it from a person then you have some kind of a…[you] can be a little bit aware and mindful, a little bit ashamed if you break it because you have taken it from your teacher.

Now, when we take the Bodhisattva vows first of course, you make all the right aspirations, you can make offerings and things like that, as much as possible, to make a very strong kind of preparation, prepare it nicely. Usually it is said, to clean the place, to decorate the place, to make a throne for the person from whom you are taking refuge, decorated with flowers and everything that’s possible to make it a grand way, to make lots of offerings and things like that. So that you kind of accumulate lots of positive merits and positive deeds to make the act very powerful or to make it not something unimportant but very important for you like you make a marriage: you make it very important you make lots of expenses and celebrations in the same way. Then you also do the refuge three-times and then the actual vows. There are two-ways. One is what is sometimes called the Manjushri way or the Nagarjuna way where you take the aspiration Bodhisattva’s vow and action Bodhisattva’s vow together in one go. Another way is the Maitreya way or Asanga way which is [where] you take the aspiration Bodhisattva vows separately from the actual Bodhisattva vows. You have two-ceremonies. So this is the Nagarjuna’s way because Shantideva is following the Nagarjuna’s tradition.

So here, in this stanza, the two-stanzas, stanza 23, after saying the refuge three-times:

Just as all the Buddhas of the past

Have brought forth the awakened mind,

And in the precepts of the Bodhisattvas

Step-by-step abode and trained…

Means that, all the Buddhas of the past generated the Bodhicitta-that means they brought forth the awakened mind means they generated the Bodhicitta-they can use the word Bodhicitta, “and in the precepts of the Bodhisattvas, step-by-step abode and trained”…they kind of generate the Bodhicitta, that’s the aspiration, and then they trained in the Bodhisattva’s precepts of the Bodhisattva’s ways, action Bodhisattva’s Bodhicitta, the six paramitas and things like that; and step-by-step means as possible, the first little bit then a little bit more then a little bit more, stronger and stronger. It is said that first you try to give a cup of curry if you have no problem with that; and then a little bit more and a little bit more and then once you get very accustomed to it, very used to it, then, even if there’s a great benefit you might even give your life for the sake of the people.

So in this way, not directly or not at the beginning, do something that you cannot do, it’s not like that but first try something that is easy and possible for you to do, then getting better and better then in terms of all the six-paramitas - generosity, moral ethics, discipline – any of those paramitas – meditation, patience, wisdom – everything, that is step-by-step and gradual.

So likewise, this is what the great Buddhas of the past and Bodhisattvas generated and trained themselves on the Bodhisattva’s way so in the same way, likewise for the benefit of beings, for the benefit of all the beings including myself, my benefit and for the benefit of every other being, I will bring to birth the awakened mind: [this] means, I would like to generate the Bodhicitta in myself. This is the aspiration Bodhicitta. This is to promise myself to generate the aspiration Bodhicitta. I will bring to birth the awakened mind, I will generate the Bodhicitta, I will bring the compassion, the wisdom with compassion aspiration of the Bodhicitta within myself: and then I will not only generate this motivation Bodhicitta but in those precepts, step-by-step, I will abode and train myself.

This last one is action Bodhisattva’s vows: I will not only generate the Bodhicitta but also will train on that practically in action, step-by-step, step-by-step I will abide by the actions of the Bodhisattvas and the six-paramitas and helping others do all those kinds of things and there are many precepts of the Bodhisattvas; and all of them, all of them step-by-step, not everything together, but whatever I can at this stage, I will train on that, I will abide in that and then, when I can, a little bit more, a little bit more, that’s what we call step-by-step, gradually, I will train in those kind of Bodhisattva’s way of life Bodhisattva’s precepts, Bodhisattva’s conduct, Bodhisattva’s training and then become a better and stronger and greater and greater Bodhisattva.

So this is very, very important. When you take the Bodhisattva’s vows, not promising something that you cannot do. You are just promising to train, start to train, in generating the Bodhicitta first and then training in its way, in its precepts, in its way of life as you can, step-by-step and gradually. And basically, the most important thing is you want to bring the lasting peace and happiness to yourself, you want to bring the lasting peace and happiness to all the beings and this must be, this is very clear that I want to bring the lasting peace and happiness to myself, the lasting peace and happiness for all the beings. Therefore, I must bring an enlightened state of mind to me, I must develop my wisdom, my compassion, my ability to help and heal others and I must bring that to all other beings, that must be so, there’s no two-opinions, there’s no…that I must do.

In order to do that then I would like to train myself, I would like to train myself and work for the benefit of others as much as I am able to, step-by-step, because the more I get trained in it, the more I get advanced in it, the more I become better in it, the more I can do.

So this is the actual Bodhisattva’s vow. So I think today I’ll stop here [with] stanzas number 23 and 24. Thank you!

©Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

This is a transcript of a video talk given for the Bodhicharya Online Shedra by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche. The transcript has only been lightly edited and is meant to be used within the Online Shedra study context.

MOTIVATION BY RINGU TULKU

MOTIVATION

October 19 2010

Video by Wangdu

Transcribed by Albert Harris

I’m very happy that you have already started studying Bodhicharyavatara, The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva; and also you have studied discussions and started to initiate the discussion with action and non-action: and I think there are lots of discussions going on in that and I’m very happy about it. In due time, maybe I will also say something about that.

Now, I wanted to go through the text of the Bodhicharyavatara and try to briefly explain stanza by stanza. I’m using the translation of the Padmakara Translation Group, of course there are other translations also in English and they’re all equally good, and there is also a commentary on this book, The Way of the Bodhisattva, by Khenpo Kunpal, into English. His English translation is also from the Padmakara Translation Group and it’s an excellent translation. I think it is also translated into other languages. There are translations of this text, Bodhicharyavatara, I think, in many languages, including the languages in the west. Some people thought that this kind of teaching that I’m going to give, or the explanation that I’m going to give, should and could also be translated into other languages: and if there are people who would like to do that I’m very happy. They can verbally translate it and then make it available in audio to the people who want to listen to them.

Now, to start the book, as you know, it’s tradition that we should first remind ourselves to generate the right motivation or to remind ourselves of the motivation for doing this study or teaching on this text, and if there is…I’m sure there is no negative or no other motivations for it, but also, if there is, then to correct them because we can always change our motivations, we can always remind ourselves and kind of change our way of thinking a little bit. So to do that-this is not actually for studying this text but for anything we do-why do we do anything? Because we want something good coming out of it, some benefits for me and for others. It is not easy or it’s most usual for any beings, any human beings that we first look at what good and what benefits it will bring to me. That’s nothing bad, there’s nothing wrong. But it is also important that [although] what it brings is good for me, for me only is not enough. We should also think what my actions, whatever I’m doing, is bringing something that is good for others as well. That’s why, if I do something that I feel and I understand is good for me and good for others as well and nothing really bad for anybody, then I must understand it, I must feel very strongly, clearly, that what I’m doing is a good thing. I’m proud of what I’m doing, I’m satisfied with what I’m doing, I feel meaning with what I’m doing, I feel purposeful and useful [for] my life that I’m living now, today.

Therefore, to really understand this and use this way of finding out that what I’m doing is something that is worthwhile doing or not and then doing those things that are worthwhile is a way of making my life worthwhile. I think, in a way, it’s a very important way to bring happiness to myself, satisfaction to myself because if I’m doing something that I feel is useful and beneficial to myself and others most of the time then I have to feel kind of satisfied and content and happy.

Therefore, this motivation is not something that we kind of pretend to generate or to try to artificially make as a prayer or [just] to say words, but it’s a genuine way of living our life. So therefore, generate the bodhicitta, try to generate bodhicitta, try to think what I’m doing is something that’s worthwhile and good for myself and for others, for now, in this moment in life, these days and also for the long term. I’m going to do something that is going to bring good things, happiness, and lots of benefit for now, for myself and others and I also wish that I could eventually get rid of all the sufferings of all the beings and bring a lasting peace and happiness.

This is a very big thing and many times we might think that it may not be possible. It’s too big; it’s too great a motivation. But, if it is possible that I, or one person, can be freed from suffering and pain and bring a kind of happiness to oneself, then it’s also possible to bring that to all the beings. It might take a long, long, long time; it is of course not an easy thing at all. But there is a possibility and there’s nothing wrong to wish for the best.

Therefore…we all know that this is not something that is going to happen soon, easily, but that’s the most important thing that should happen. Therefore, even if it’s just one prayer, one wish, one strong kind of aspiration, why not make it?

So, I don’t want to take too long because this whole book is about how to generate this and how to work on this. Therefore, I don’t need to talk much at this point, trying to generate the bodhicitta. This, actually, should go at the beginning of every teaching, every lesson, every meditation, every practice, every morning, every starting of the day. But of course, I will not say it because it is going to take time. I know everybody has not that much time. So please, listen to this if you want to remind yourself, otherwise just remind yourself. It doesn’t need to take a long time. That’s the first thing.

Bodhicharya Ireland: A Meditation on Ringu Tulku

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